As Charlotte’s job growth has returned, so has traffic into Uptown during rush hour, a new apartment project on every corner, healthy single-family demand and a food fight. Currently there is an all-out war for grocery market share between behemoths Harris Teeter, Publix and Walmart Neighborhood Market, all adding stores at a record rate, while Whole Foods Market continues to expand within the market on a measured basis. Newcomers Sprouts Farmers Market and Lidl, a German-based supermarket grocer offering discount items, are set to make market entries between 2016 to 2018, with Food Lion planning to refurbish a number of their stores in the market. Pappas Properties has begun construction on a Harris Teeter at Berewick and Raley Miller in a joint venture with Levine Properties, and has filed a rezoning petition to add another Harris Teeter at the corner of Fairview and Providence. Harris Teeter has recently added a store in Cornelius, as has Publix. Publix has recently opened a new store in the booming South End submarket located along the transit line on South Boulevard and has won zoning approval for a store to be constructed at Cotswold. A grocer is also rumored to be scouting a redevelopment …
Cleveland will host the Republican National Convention in July 2016. In response, hospitality firms have steadily expanded payrolls with the addition of 9,200 workers, the biggest relative gain among all employment sectors. The overall labor force will expand 1.6 percent this year, or by 16,500 new workers. Thousands of these newly employed workers are seeking rental housing, particularly in the urban core where housing prices are much higher than the metro average. In addition, the urban core’s transformation to a 24-hour city has created its own momentum. Demand Exceeds Supply High net absorption outpaced construction during the past four quarters, putting downward pressure on vacancy. Last year, average vacancy dropped 160 basis points as tenants absorbed more than 3,400 units. In the last 12-month period ending in June, nearly every Cleveland submarket posted a drop in vacancy. Net absorption is expected to end the year more than 40 percent higher, with vacancy projected to slide 50 basis points to 3.4 percent, one of the lowest levels in the country. Builders have responded by expanding the project pipeline. More than 1,700 rental units have already come on line during the past year. However, compared with almost any other major metro in the country, this is just a drop in the bucket. …
The Southern Nevada industrial market has continuously seen improvement through the second quarter of 2015 with a positive absorption of 878,151 square feet. The overall vacancy rate followed suit and decreased to 8 percent – down 2.1 points from the 12 previous months, which ended at 10.1 percent. The asking lease rates also increased to an average of $6.38 – up almost 10 percent in the fourth quarter of 2014 when it stood at $6.16. A new addition to the healthy market is the growth in new projects that are either planned or under construction. There is an estimated 2.4 million square feet currently under construction, with deliveries anticipated from the third quarter of 2015 through the second quarter of 2016. Big box distribution demand continues to climb, and most developers now believe “if you build it, they will come.” One of the largest deliveries planned for the third quarter of this year is Prologis’ 3700 Bay Lake Trail. Bay Lake was originally planned as a 464,203-square-foot, speculative project. The entire development was leased by Cushman & Wakefield to the Global Equipment Company (GEC), a subsidiary of Systemax, prior to the official groundbreaking, however. This deal was an expansion for …
Lately, Charlotte seems to have more of everything: jobs, residents, young people — all of which has driven more demand for quality multifamily properties in urban neighborhoods with multiple lifestyle amenities. Renters’ desire for parks, transit options and walkable access to work, culture, and entertainment has led Charlotte’s Uptown/South End region to become the fastest-growing apartment submarket in the nation, according to a study by MPF Research. Since the recession, Uptown/South End has experienced a period of remarkable growth in the multifamily market, and has seen an 82 percent increase in units since 2012, the study says. Overall, renter-occupied units make up just over two-fifths, or 40 percent, of the city’s housing market, a percentage that is already higher than the national average and anticipated to increase. As more properties are built, Charlotte’s 5.1 percent vacancy rate is likely to increase over the long term, but demand is expected to remain strong as the city’s dynamic economy and population continue to grow. The area’s population is set to increase about 2 percent annually over the next five years, far outpacing the country’s overall rate of 0.75 percent. Much of that is due to an influx of well-educated, younger people moving …
Since 2011, Austin’s multifamily market has become one of the strongest in the state and nation. With stable job growth, demand is projected to remain strong. Marketwide occupancy hovered around 94 percent at the end of the second quarter of 2015, with rents increasing at a 6 percent year-over-year clip. Austin and Travis County continue to rack up the rankings, with Thumbtack naming the area a top environment for small businesses and WalletHub naming it the best large U.S. city to live in. Headlight Data ranked Travis County the second fastest-growing financial services sector in 2014 and Austin came in as the number one city for startup activity on the 2015 Kaufmann Index. Generally, the first question on everyone’s minds is how long this bullish cycle will last. With the development pipeline running at historically high levels, what is the impact on today’s market and how does the future look? Apartment construction dropped off dramatically in 2010 and remained compressed until 2014. However, population grew incredibly fast during the construction trough, resulting in heightened demand. Today, there are 16,000 units in some stage of development with just over 10,000 expected to deliver in 2015. The difference between today and the …
E-commerce and business-to-consumer companies could overtake the automotive industry when it comes to driving growth in Kansas City’s modern bulk distribution segment of the industrial market. Auto suppliers filled the first wave of new space in the Kansas City industrial market. But now that those needs have primarily been met, new industry sectors are needed to fill the second wave of development. E-commerce and business-to-consumer companies could be the dominant users. These companies are capitalizing on the fact that 85 percent of the U.S. population can be reached from Kansas City in a two-day truck drive, according to KC Smart Port, a nonprofit organization that works to attract freight-based companies to the Kansas City area. Through in-house transportation studies, KC Smart Port is coming to the conclusion that it strategically makes sense for the distribution centers of e-commerce companies to be located in Kansas City. Recommendations from UPS, FedEx and third-party consultants also help e-commerce companies — located on both the East and West coasts — make that decision. Business-to-consumer companies operating a one-, three- or five-building model find that Kansas City works well logistically as it is in the middle of the country. Inherent Advantages Locating in Kansas City allows …
The Charlotte industrial market is extremely well-regarded by most national investors, with consistent rent growth, strong occupancy and increasing values. The fourth quarter of 2014 revealed the third-highest annual net absorption ever recorded in the Charlotte industrial market, continuing a pattern of growth that began in the fourth quarter of 2010. This continued recovery can be directly attributed to a combination of restrained development, expansions by existing space users, an influx of new companies and increased economic stability. Due primarily to geographic constraints and a high demand for land by all types of developers, there is a limited supply of large tracts suitable for industrial developments, which protects the value of existing properties. Air Support Industrial tenants are drawn to Charlotte for its strategic location along I-85 between Atlanta and the Mid-Atlantic states, as well as proximity to the Carolinas, southern Virginia and eastern Tennessee. Quality buildings are available at competitive prices in the region. Charlotte Douglas International Airport (CLT) continues to be a significant economic development driver, and Charlotte’s distribution network will be further enhanced by Norfolk Southern’s intermodal terminal recently completed on 230 acres adjacent to CLT. The terminal will include two loading tracks totaling 9,056 feet, eight …
Family-owned grocers Schnucks and Dierbergs solidified their position as the primary grocers across the St. Louis metro area when Schnucks acquired 57 stores from National Supermarkets in 1995. But after several years of these two chains dominating the grocery sector, an influx of fresh-format grocery stores is shaking up the market by offering shoppers fresh, local, organic — and in some cases more affordable — whole food choices. These new chains — typically half the size of traditional grocers — appeal to a younger customer, as well as those looking to supplement their grocery shopping or find items for special occasions. Consumers interested in the offerings of fresh-format grocers are willing to drive farther to shop at their stores. New Entrants Abound Fields Foods, a “homegrown” fresh-format grocer, opened its first location in the Lafayette Square neighborhood in January 2014. The newly constructed 37,000-square-foot, stand-alone building is just south of downtown’s central business district. The grocer markets produce provided by farmers within 100 miles of the store, and also features a wine bar and personal shoppers. This unique, full-service grocer is locally owned and was the first fresh-format store to enter the metro area. Fields Foods has plans to expand …
Owners, investors and developers are bullish about the Phoenix industrial market – and for good reason. We occupy one of the most strategic supply chain locations in the West – a sweet spot between West Coast ports, manufacturing in Mexico, and alongside truck and rail routes leading product into the heart of the nation. Add to this Governor Ducey’s mandate to grow Arizona’s trade volume with Mexico by 20 percent per year – not to mention Mexico itself being on the verge of becoming the world’s largest manufacturer – and you have a Phoenix market entering a new era of long-term growth. This has expanded our already robust industrial construction industry, where design-build is hot and will likely stay that way, thanks to the 8 million square feet to 10 million square feet of industrial requirements seriously considering Arizona for their location solutions. For energy-centric companies with high employee head counts in particular, Arizona offers as much as a 30 percent to 40 percent savings proposition over higher-cost Tier 1 markets. The West Valley has welcomed 10 million square feet of larger build-to-suit corporate projects looking for specialized footprints and visibility along I-10 in the past three years. These include …
It’s no secret that the Sunbelt states have been, and continue to be, the front-runners for corporations looking to relocate to cities with a much lower cost of doing business. With each state taking different approaches, North Carolina does not often offer the relocation incentives that can be found in states such as South Carolina and Texas. Instead, North Carolina favors a system that offers less up-front cash incentives, but tries to offset that with a tax structure and business-friendly climate in an effort to compete for the large, attractive relocations. Because of this, the catalyst for growth in Charlotte has only been moderately associated with the recruitment of out-of-market users looking to relocate headquarters to more affordable and attractive markets. In large part, Charlotte’s growth has been driven by organic growth of existing businesses. In fact, more than 70 percent of the positive absorption in the central business district (CBD) since 2010 has occurred through organic growth. This expansion of existing business has provided for employment growth conditions that work hand-in-hand with the rapidly swelling population. In between new-to-market relocations that provide headline-grabbing bursts of employment, the diverse and impressive growth of Charlotte’s existing companies has attracted talent and …